when I go on trips I usually convert some of the videos to my PSP so I have something to watch. Since PSP needs h264 videos it takes me around an hour to convert 30 minutes video and I am getting really tired of that. Most of my videos are in format that is supported by J3, but the screen seems a lot smaller than the one on PSP. Does anybody of you own a PSP? I would like to know how does J3 video experience compare to PSP video experience, and if you are satisfied with J3 external speaker volume and quality. Currently, I use Sansa Fuze as my music player and I am really satisfied with it so video experience would be main reason to replace it with J3.

Don't have a PSP but I expect motion will be smoother on an AMOLED screen than an LCD. But when I converted a high-quality DVD for playback on the J3 using maximum quality with jetAudio, there was enough color banding to be distracting. I figured it was something to do with the codec or conversion, but I took a screencap and the banding was evident even when viewing the screencap with the J3's photo viewer. High-quality photos look normal on the photo viewer, however, so perhaps if you were converting Blu-rays you'd get better results. I had a Sony Walkman X and it displayed less banding with the same video, but that player has a lower resolution than the J3.

And what about screen size? Is it big enough to use it comfortably? Can you watch video with device 50cm (20 inches) away from your eyes?

The J3 screen is so good that everything you play will be a joy to watch. The colors are so vibrant and clear that it's almost like you're watching you videos in HD. The only setback is the brightness. It's plenty enough to see everything but you will find yourself wishing you had a little more on certain videos. But I use to own a PSP and I watched a lot of movies on it and I can honestly say that the J3 blows it a way. Not only are the movies better looking on the J3, you have a player that doesn't require all that converting crap. Just drag and drop and you're good to go. If this thing could play .mkv files I would be in heaven.

A few weeks back I was rushing to finish up preparing my recently arrived J3 for a 3-week vacaction. In the process I decided to use the remaining 6GB or so of internal+external storage I had left over to copy some videos I had, as sort of demonstration clips to experiment with.

These are all very high-quality xVid-encoded AVI clips in the 3-7 minute range, with PCM stereo audio (not compressed to MP3). They are all made by me, clips made from transfers of TV programs (either directly from my TV Tuner card or from AUX S-video analog video input and L/R stereo analog audio input).

I listen to these videos through headphones, although I've also kind of tried to listen through the J3's speaker (but that doesn't really do well because of the Cowon leather case I have, which hides that speaker on the back).

Anyway, while the xVid video images are absolutely gorgeous and vibrant and true color on the J3, and plays perfectly, for some reason the audio is NOT in sync. I'm not talking just a tiny bit out of sync, I'm talking significantly out of sync.

I haven't done any research on this to figure out why I'm seeing this. Might be the very high bitrate of the video which is preoccupying the CPU in the J3, or it might be the high bitrate uncompressed PCM (i.e. WAV) audio rather than MP3 which is stressing the system. Don't know yet.

But whatever the cause, I simply mention that this first experiment with high-quality xVid AVI's and uncompressed audio it appears there's some significant problem with audio/video sync. Hopefully I will be able to figure out a solution, although these very same AVI's play perfectly on my computer (admittedly much stronger than the J3).

And what about screen size? Is it big enough to use it comfortably? Can you watch video with device 50cm (20 inches) away from your eyes?

Depends on how good your vision is. For me, there's a noticeable degradation in clarity when I hold the J3 in my lap to watch a video vs. holding it up close to my face. Diagonallly, its a 3.3" screen with 480x272 resolution. (A google search returns that the PSP has the same 480x272 resolution.) There are smartphones now like the Samsung Galaxy S that have larger screens with 800x480 resolution and its Super AMOLED, which makes it more easily viewable in bright light such as outdoors, but the sound quality isn't as good. The only other good AMOLED option for video I know of might be a Viliv P3 imported from Korea, as it has 800x480 and an equalizer for the sound, but there are no good reviews yet. You can watch these threads for updates:

If I were looking for a player primarily for video use, I'd wait for the verdict on that one, as I'm not too happy with the reduced resolution and red and green rainbows and color shimmering that sometimes appear on skin tones on the J3 (although it seems to be most noticeable in less well-lit areas). It may also have better support for more video formats, as you say you don't like having to convert, and I can tell you there were several videos I tried that wouldn't play on the J3 and froze it so that I had to use the reset button. But you'll probably always have to convert some; you just have to leave the converter running overnight.

Also, to answer your question about the external speaker quality, its quite bad and I would say unsuitable for use as anything but an alarm, in which case its annoying quality would motivate you to wake up and turn it off.

In case anyone with a J3 is interested in seeing an example of the 'rainbow' effect I mentioned, open the following 480x272 image in the J3's photo viewer:

And what about screen size? Is it big enough to use it comfortably? Can you watch video with device 50cm (20 inches) away from your eyes?

I watch a lot of videos on my J3. It's ruining my eyesight. I'm becoming near sighted. I really need to stop. Seriously, if you have normal eyesight, watching something this small for a prolong period of time will screw up your eyesight. But if you're already near sighted and wearing glass, I guess it wouldn't matter then.

This is not the fault of the J3 player. It would be the case with any video player this small in size. I'm just letting you know of my experience with my J3.

I really should stop watching videos for an extended period of time on my J3.

You cannot destroy your eyes by looking at something ( the Sun excluded). That is a myth. Your eyes will get tired just like any muscle on your body, but you cannot do any damage. People have been looking at things/reading for 1000's of years, and to date this has not been the cause of eye damage.

You cannot destroy your eyes by looking at something ( the Sun excluded). That is a myth. Your eyes will get tired just like any muscle on your body, but you cannot do any damage. People have been looking at things/reading for 1000's of years, and to date this has not been the cause of eye damage.

You're quite right, and listening to very loud music causes no ear damage too.

You're quite right, and listening to very loud music causes no ear damage too.

Look mate, if it were true that 'looking' at small things would destroy your eyes, wouldn't there be warning labels on all phones. psps, etc? Wouldn't the EU have banned all these devices? According to you by the time you reached 30, everyone would be blind from too much looking at things. Do some research before you spout garbage. hint ask a doctor or optician (or a grown up). You cannot destroy your eyes by using them, if anything they get stronger. In your case looking at the J3 has obviously caused brain damage if you think loud noises don't damage hearing. For your info as you age, your eye lenses harden, making it harder to focus on close objects. Nothing to do with use. Your attempt at sarcasm makes you look ignorant.

Look mate, if it were true that 'looking' at small things would destroy your eyes, wouldn't there be warning labels on all phones. psps, etc? Wouldn't the EU have banned all these devices? According to you by the time you reached 30, everyone would be blind from too much looking at things. Do some research before you spout garbage. hint ask a doctor or optician (or a grown up). You cannot destroy your eyes by using them, if anything they get stronger. In your case looking at the J3 has obviously caused brain damage if you think loud noises don't damage hearing. For your info as you age, your eye lenses harden, making it harder to focus on close objects. Nothing to do with use. Your attempt at sarcasm makes you look ignorant.

Grasshopper, you need a few courses in reading comprehension. Most of your posts indicate you don't fully understand about what you argue. Read my post again.

"if you have normal eyesight, watching something this small for a prolong period of time will screw up your eyesight"

The point is a prolong period of time. Looking at your small gadgets for a few seconds or minutes won't screw up your eye sight, but continously watching movie after movies on the small screen will definitely screw up one's eyes. It's that prolonged constant focus of the eyes on a near object that is one factor which causes near sightedness. Genetics may be another factor.

Because the J3's screen is so small, one has to view the J3 at a much closer distance than, for example, a 15" laptop. This prolonged focusing of the eyes on anything that close for a prolonged period of time may cause eventual near sightedness for many, but not all, as genetics do play a factor.

I own a PSP 3000 series and I do love the resolution/size of the screen and the speakers that come with it... But I do not love the fact that I have to convert many files for it and also limited storage size (duo stick memory cards are expensive compared to micro sd)

I have downloaded 700mb movies/Korean dramas from various forums and uploaded them directly to Cowon J3 - watched, enjoyed, sometimes with tears... very well on it!!

PSP used to be my video-watching-gadget but that changed to Cowon...though it drains the battery life greatly lol...